Curtis repositioned his headset and slightly turned up the volume. He was pacing back and forth inside his home office, speaking with his publicist, Lisa, on the phone and Charlotte was sitting behind his desk reading what Lisa had faxed over to them.
“The statement looks fine, and so does the press release.”
“I think it says everything we need it to say, but in a very remorseful and humble manner.”
“I agree.”
“But what we have to discuss now is how you should handle interviews. Both local and national. For television, radio, and print. Because the requests are going to be rolling in immediately.”
“Just tell me what I need to do.”
“Well, most important, I want you to be as open and as forthcoming with information as you can because what we want is for the public to truly see how genuine your confession and apology are. We want the public to sympathize with you and your entire family.”
“That won’t be hard to convey because I truly am sorry for what I’ve done.”
“I know you are, and, Pastor, while I haven’t said this yet, I’m glad you’re doing this. I’m glad you ended your affair with Tabitha because even though you never told me, I knew she was always around you way too much for something not to be going on. And I have to tell you, even the thought of it was sometimes very difficult for me because I didn’t want to lose respect for you. So, for the most part, I pushed the whole idea of it from my mind and just did my job. I told myself it wasn’t any of my business and that what I needed to focus on was getting you publicity.”
“I’m sorry I put you in such an awkward position, but I’m glad you hung in there. You’re the best, and I definitely need you in my corner. Now more than ever before.”
“Not to worry. I’m going to do everything I possibly can to get you through this.”
“So what’s next?”
“Your family. It will be crucial that you stress your newfound commitment and faithfulness to Charlotte. You need to make sure you mention the fact that you’re the one who ended the affair with your mistress and that you’ve been faithful to Charlotte ever since.”
“Should we say when I ended it, so people will know it’s been well over a year?”
“I was considering that, but then I decided you shouldn’t because we don’t want to encourage conversation that will force you to admit you ended it when you found out Tabitha was pregnant. It won’t look good because people will say that’s the only reason you stopped seeing her. They’ll say you dumped a woman who was carrying your child.”
“You’re right.”
“Then as far as Charlotte’s part in these interviews, it will be important for her to do them with you, side by side. Proving that she has forgiven you and that the love between both of you is stronger than ever. But I’ll prep her later today or tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
“The other thing is that I don’t want you saying Tabitha’s name. There will come a time when you won’t be able to avoid it, like when the media eventually finds out who she is, but until then, just refer to her as “a woman” or “the woman” the way I have it written in your statement. Then, once the media knows who she is and you run into situations where you can’t avoid saying her name, I want you to refer to her as Ms. Charles. But never call her by her first name.”
“Is there a reason?”
“Because we don’t want it to sound like your relationship is still very personal. We want you to speak about her in a very respectful way, but that’s as far as you need to go with it.”
“That works for me.”
“Also, I know you were saying we should submit the press release over the wire late Sunday evening, but the more I think about it, I think we should release it as soon as you’ve told your congregation. And the reason I say this is because we don’t want anyone from the church leaking information to the press. We want your side of this to get out well before people start twisting and adding their own opinions to your statement, because as soon as that happens all sorts of rumors will be flying. Rumors are going to be running rampant anyway, but still, it will be better if we get a head start on them.”
“I’m willing to do whatever you suggest, and I’ll have Elder Jamison call you on his cell as soon as I begin telling the congregation.”
“That’s perfect. I think that’s it for now, but I’ll be in touch again later. Also, don’t forget to let Charlotte know that I’ll need to talk to her.”
“I will. And, Lisa, thanks again for everything.”
“You’re quite welcome, Pastor. We’re in for a fight, but I think you’ll be fine when this is over. Especially since you decided to come forward on your own before anyone found out about it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I’ll speak to you later.”
“Take care.”
Curtis removed his headset and laid it on his desk.
“So is there anything I need to do?”
“Lisa said she’ll call you later to fill you in. She wants you to be with me during all the interviews.”
“That’s fine. Whatever it takes.”
Curtis sat on the edge of his desk where Charlotte was sitting and smoothed his hand down the side of her face. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“I’m standing behind you because I love you and because I don’t want to see our marriage ruined, but I need you to know that my feelings haven’t changed when it comes to Tabitha. From this day forward, I don’t want you communicating with her. Not about anything. I know you love your daughter, but I can’t deal with her mother. I won’t allow Tabitha to continue stealing my joy the way she has been.”
“I hear what you’re saying, and I’ll respect your wishes.”
“Good. That’s all I want.”
Charlotte stood and Curtis hugged her.
He hugged her tightly, and he also thought about Curtina.
He pictured her sweet little face and prayed that one day God would make it possible for him to be a father to her.
He hoped that one day Charlotte’s heart would soften and make her okay with it.
It had been a long while, at least two weeks, since Charlotte had gone to Mitchell’s most popular mall, and she was looking forward to checking out what Macy’s had in their misses department. Normally she drove to Schaumburg to Woodfield Mall so she could shop at Nordstrom’s or their Macy’s or over to Oakbrook Mall so she could shop at Nordstrom’s or Neiman’s, but now that Federated had acquired Marshall Field’s and renamed it Macy’s, the local clothing selection was a bit more upscale than it used to be, and now she could at least find a variety of dressy casual garments, which she loved. She also wanted to see what they had in the baby department because she was dying to get something for Janine’s baby. Of course, the new bundle wouldn’t be here for a while and in only a few months, Charlotte would be throwing the absolute best shower for her, but she still wanted to pick up a few items right now.
When Charlotte entered the store, she went directly into the shoe department. She browsed from one table to the next and then spotted a beautiful, three-and-a-half-inch basic pump. She had a ton of black shoes, actually a ton of shoes period, but these particular ones screamed pure class and she had to have them.
“Hi. Do you have these in a size eight?” she asked the salt-and-pepper-haired woman heading her way.
“Good choice. We’ve been selling a lot of these, but let me check.”
“Thank you.”
Charlotte browsed the athletic table and thought about trying on a couple of pairs of those, but decided not to since she had just about every color imaginable. She had gym shoes to match each of her fitness outfits, and she also had shoes that she didn’t even have outfits for and had never worn.
“I’m so sorry,” the saleslady said. “The closest thing we have is a seven, but I could check the system for you to see if any of the other locations have them in stock.”
“I have some more shopping to do, so maybe I’ll stop back by here on my way out.”
“That’ll be fine.”
After passing through fine jewelry, and then passing by the Lancôme and MAC counters, she took the escalator up to the second floor and turned right. Just as she’d hoped, they had a lot of new pieces, so she headed over toward a stack of folded sweaters. Cashmere was her absolute favorite, and they had every color from black to red to royal blue to hot pink to orange. She already had two in black and also one in red, so she picked up the blue and pink and laid them over her arm. They were on sale for $69.99, which was a great sale given the original price was thirty dollars more.
Next, she walked into the Ralph Lauren section and pulled a navy blue wool blazer with beautiful gold-toned buttons from the rack it was hanging on and glanced up at the woman on the other side of it. To Charlotte’s surprise, it was Reverend Tolson’s wife.
“Vivian?”
“Oh, hi, Charlotte, how are you?”
“I’m well. And you?”
“Good.”
Charlotte knew Curtis had told her not to say anything yet, but she at least had to find out what their plans were now that Reverend Tolson was no longer interim pastor.
“I’m really sorry that I didn’t get to say a proper good-bye before you and Reverend Tolson left the church.”
“I know. It happened pretty quickly, so I really didn’t get to talk to anyone at all.”
“So are the two of you planning to stay on here in Mitchell?”
“We haven’t decided yet, but I’m hoping we go back to Dallas.”
“That’s where you lived before coming here, right?”
“Yes, we were both born and raised there, so that’s really where home is for me.”
“I can imagine.”
“So how’s Mr. Matthew?”
“He’s fine.”
“And Pastor?”
“He’s fine as well.”
“Please give them my best.”
“Of course.”
“Vivian, let’s go!” Reverend Tolson said, appearing out of nowhere.
“I’m so, so sorry for everything,” she whispered and hurried toward her husband, who clearly wasn’t happy to see her talking with Charlotte. As a matter of fact, he seemed just a little too angry and almost like some lowlife abuser—either verbal or physical, or both.
Charlotte watched Vivian step onto the escalator behind her husband and wondered what he was going to say to her once they were out of the store and in their vehicle. She wondered what terrible thing he might do to her, and she couldn’t wait to tell Curtis what she’d witnessed. Then, the more she thought about it, she wondered what Vivian had been apologizing for. It was true that her husband wasn’t being cooperative with the board’s decision, but Vivian had stressed how sorry she was in an almost passionate way—too passionate to merely be referring to Reverend Tolson’s rejection of his termination offer.
After paying for the sweaters and blazer, Charlotte went down to the main floor and then to the lower level. She thought about stopping to look at sheets, but continued into the children’s department. Once there, she immediately picked up two of the cutest onesies she’d seen in years. They were even cuter than the ones she remembered receiving as gifts when Marissa had been born, so she had to buy them. Then, over to the left, she saw the most beautiful, white satin christening dresses and suits and she would gladly have purchased one of those, too, except she didn’t know if Janine and Carl were having a boy or girl. Nonetheless, she was so proud and happy she and Curtis were going to be the godparents.
Charlotte browsed through the rest of the section, but was saddened when she picked up a little pink sweater and matching hat that was almost identical to a set she’d purchased for Marissa. Charlotte still missed her terribly, and she longed for the day when the loss of her child would be easier to live with.
“Well, well, well,” the voice said, and Charlotte looked in the woman’s direction. “It seems you and I simply just can’t stop running in to each other.”
She didn’t want to believe she was staring Tabitha straight in her face.
“Why are you following me?”
“Please. You give yourself way too much credit because I would never even waste my time.”
“First it was the salon, then you confronted Curtis at the gas station, and now this.”
“And?”
“You’re stalking us like some madwoman.”
Tabitha snickered. “Do you actually think you’re worth all that? Because if you do, I have big news for you…you’re not.”
Charlotte looked down at Curtina, who was sitting in her stroller, smiling. She was so innocent and thankfully much too young to know what was going on.
“You’re sick. Very sick, because no woman in her right mind would chase behind a man and his wife and bring her baby along for the ride,” Charlotte said.
“You’re just jealous. Of me and my daughter.”
Charlotte dropped the onsies and the blankets onto a table where they didn’t belong and moved closer to her adversary. “Don’t ever say I didn’t warn you, Tabitha.”
“Whatever.”
Charlotte brushed by her and left the area.
But as soon as she stepped outside the mall, she called Dooney.
She didn’t even bother with saying hello to him. “I know we agreed that you would start tomorrow, but if you’re ready, I need you to pay that tramp a visit tonight.”
“Done.”